Strawberry Short Course festival draws community to explore campus

Mt. Hood Community College will have its second straight Strawberry Short Course festival on June 21 this year, with free hour long courses, a variety of food and a petting zoo.

Strawberry Short course was held annually from the 1970s through the 1990s, said Kimberly Murray, Mt. Hood’s community education coordinator. It was revived last year.

“The public really wanted it back, and when I took the position as community education coordinator, I was still getting complaints from people,” Murray said. “This event happened before I even started working here.”

The festival will feature vendors selling various items, carnival style games and a petting zoo. There will be classes on different subjects. Everything except food will be free of charge.

The courses are open for anyone to attend, and for anyone to teach. “It’s open to the community members to teach a class if they have experience. Anyone can volunteer, anyone can be a vendor. They just need to sign up on our website,” said Murray.

Last year, the festival had classes on karate, Nutrition on a Budget and other topics.

The MHCC science department will be face painting, and the Library will stage some workshops. The Planetarium will have four free shows open to the public.

“The history was, the college was built on (former) strawberry fields, and so that’s why we call it (the) Strawberry Short Course festival,” Murray said. Strawberry shortcake will be served for free, made from shortcake mix donated by Burgerville.

“The main purpose is having a special event where the community can come, discover the campus, bring their kids,” she said.

About 900 people attended last year’s festival.

Two other events will be going on during the festival. A food cart festival will be held, as a fundraiser for ALSO (Adult Learning Systems of Oregon), “an organization for people with disabilities,” said Murray.

A free kid’s fishing derby will be held, too, put on by the Gresham Optimists club. “We’re hoping the synergy will bring them all sort of together,” Murray said of the various events.

Persons interested in volunteering for the Strawberry Short Course festival may sign up at http://mhcc.edu/strawberry/.